Craig Clark on mon 22 nov 04
haggle......
I am happy to say that over the past several years the prices that I
recieve for my pots has steadily increased. Much of this is do to the
fact that they were pretty much undervalued to begin with..I've been
feeling my way through the market place and have reached a spot where I
don't think that I could raise the prices any higher and still make
consistent sales.
I too have been approached at craft shows and been asked whether or
not I would "do a deal." At first I didn't like it but was read the riot
act by an aquaintence of mine who teaches economics. The distilled
version of what he said is that once the work leaves the studio and is
placed on the open market then it is subject to the vagaries of the open
market, both good and bad. His forcefully made point over several pints
of beer was that, in his words, artists/craftsfolk are nothing better
than whiners when they complain about people wanting to get a discount.
While I wouldn't put it that way I certainly understand his point.
Regardless of how much of our "being", "soul" or whatever one wants
to call is put into our work it is a commodity once it is placed on the
open market. The nature of the open market is that prices go up and
down. Folks like to look for the best proce on things. To suggest
otherwise I think is to ignore certain realities.
So, yes, I have given discounts, but only on higher ticket items,
like bottles or pieces above $200. I never discount my lower end stuff
like my little bowls which are truly my bread and butter and which by
the way I do not enjoy making anywhere near as much as larger pots or
sculpture.
I once negotiated a quick discount of $30, in the rain at a local
show where everyone was getting killed, on one of my $350 bio-morphic
pots. I really loved the piece. Had it for a year and a half setting out
on the pillar on the left side of the front porch. Took it to shows more
as an eye catcher than anything else.
The lady really like the pot. I could tell. She was craddling it in
her arms like an oversized baby as the rain poured down. She was, and I
can say this because I am married to one, a NewYork City person of
Jewish extraction who in her words just has to "do a deal." In the end I
was happy for the dineero, she loves the pot and will be buying more,
and she thanked me for the haggle. It's just one of those things that
some folks gotta do.
Craig Dunn Clark
619 East 11 1/2 st
Houston, Texas 77008
(713)861-2083
mudman@hal-pc.org
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